


Coming of Age

by ohnoscarlett



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Nightmares, Telekinesis, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-29
Updated: 2006-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-01 15:16:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10924491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohnoscarlett/pseuds/ohnoscarlett
Summary: Spoilers for "Nightmare".  There may be a Part 2 to this.  Maybe.  Beta bypheebs1.  Thanks, pheebs!  This is also posted in supernaturalfic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

>   Spoilers for "Nightmare".  There may be a Part 2 to this.  Maybe.  Beta by [](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/profile)[pheebs1](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/).  Thanks, pheebs!  This is also posted in supernaturalfic.

Title:Coming of Age

Universe:Supernatural

Genre:gen

Rating:PG

Notes:  Spoilers for "Nightmare".  There may be a Part 2 to this.Maybe.  Beta by [](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/profile)[**pheebs1**](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/).  Thanks, pheebs!  This is also posted in supernaturalfic.

Comments:welcome, encouraged, jonesed-after…

 

 

  


Dean hadn’t told Sam much about anything during the years they were apart. Vague comments about hunting spots, mostly. Nothing important. Nothing like Dean should have told him.

Dean was twenty-two when Sam left. He had heard somewhere that if you were going to have a psychotic break at some point in your life, odds are it would happen in your twenties. Well, it wasn’t exactly a psychotic break, but it could have led to one...

Sam had been gone for months. Time hadn’t yet dulled the pain of his absence, but at least Dean and their Dad weren’t snapping at each other any more. Then the headaches started. Dean figured it was because he always got stressed around the anniversary of their mother’s death. Dad always slipped a few notches closer to crazy in November, and it made Dean stressed. Simple as that. But it wasn’t. Vivid, insane nightmares troubled Dean’s sleep, forcing him awake with blinding headaches that wouldn’t fade for hours.

Dean took to chewing painkillers. They were horrible and bitter, but they seemed to work faster that way. Dad wouldn’t stand for weakness. And Dad needed him, even if Sam didn’t.

Dean’s nightmares were real--like Sam’s--but it was harder for him to figure it out. Dean went where Dad said, and that was that. They didn’t use his visions as a guide. Or they wouldn’t have, if Dean had told him. They were just headaches. When Dean saw his nightmares again in print, it was proof, of course, but not enough to tell Dad. Dad figured it out on his own when Dean’s “instincts” started getting _too good_ , and he would know more, and throw hints, and suggest hunts. Things Dean would never have done before. This was Dad’s quest. Dad’s rules. He wasn’t nearly as upset about it as Dean thought he would be. Just another strange thing in the strange thing that was their life.

The nightmarish visions lessened. Dean didn’t use them to find new things to hunt; he didn’t need to, or couldn’t. Dean was simply a soldier in Dad’s Army. They went where Dad said, suggestion or no. Dad always had something lined up. So Dean suppressed the visions, pushed them down as hard as he could. Dean’s psyche probably figured “use it or lose it”, although the visions never completely went away, just got rarer. He could stand that. And the headaches got better. The TK was a surprise, though.

Dean discovered that he was telekinetic during a hunt. Dad had been in rare form, and they were seamless and fluid together against the demon. Then he slipped. In a panic, Dean’s power pushed him out of the demon’s reach and allowed for a clear shot. When it was over, the two of them simply sat where they were on the ground, silent, the demon a steaming heap between them. Dad only said one thing:

“Be careful.” Be careful. Advice it would be good to give Sam, as well.

Dean was very careful. He had suppressed the visions as best he could. He rarely had them now. Maybe one, two a year. The last, of course, had saved Sam from going up in flames with his girlfriend. The TK, though, he used that. It was useful. He was good at it. Can’t reach a tape under the seat of the car? Kick off the blankets in the middle of the night? Simply fixed. Sam didn’t even notice.

Now Sam was twenty-two. Dean had been struggling with sharing his experience with his brother. He didn’t know if it would help, frankly. All too soon, Sam’s visions were coming fast and furious, and he was popping painkillers just like Dean had. Dean was torn. Should he just tell Sam that it would get better, or ride it out and let him figure it out on his own? He knew what Dad would do. Just let it go.

Sam was good at the vision thing. Sure, he got the blinding headaches, but they went right away. As they started using the visions as leads, Sam’s headaches got less intense. Then the whole Miller family fiasco… Dean could see that Sam was shaken.

“When Max trapped me in the closet…” So Sam moved the cabinet. Always an alternate explanation for things. Deny, deny, deny…

“So you’ve got more upper body strength than I gave you credit for.” A little sarcasm never hurts.

“No, I moved it—like Max.” Oh. Kay. Can’t get around it this time.

“Bend this.” Sam’s look of utter stupefication would have been hilarious at any other time. But now Dean was being forced to share, and he didn’t like being forced to do anything.

“I can’t, Dean…” Fine.

Dean held the spoon out for a few seconds. When Sam was obviously not going to do anything to it, or even try, Dean dropped his arm. The spoon stayed suspended. Hell, that lightweight Max could do it easily enough. Dean had been doing stuff like this for years. This was nothing. Dean turned away. He didn’t want to look at Sam right then. The spoon bent into a circle, then straightened again. The handle twisted until it broke from the bowl, and then Dean let it drop to the floor. Sam was silent, even when Dean turned to face him again.

Dean and Sam simply stared at each other. Sam was clearly in shock. Dean was just trying to figure out where to start explaining. It hadn’t really surprised Dean at all that Sam was telekinetic. He figured he would be, what with the visions and all. And they were brothers; they had to have some things in common.

“What was that?” Now that he had recovered his power of speech, Sam was incredulous.

“I should think it was obvious, College Boy.”

“How long have you—why—why didn’t you tell me?”

Dean rolled his eyes and sat down. This could take a while. Sam took a couple faltering steps toward him then sat down himself.

“Look, Sam, I didn’t know what to do when this stuff started happening to you. It’s not like Dad was all that helpful—“

“What? You told Dad? Dad knows?”

“No, Dad doesn’t know about you, but he knows about me. You were gone to school when all this started happening to me, and Dad was just—I don’t know, in denial or something. Come on! It’s not like psychic visions and telekinesis are normal parts of growing up. Dad didn’t know what to do. Hell, he didn’t know what to do about the things that were normal. Did _you_ get a sex talk? I sure as hell didn’t.”

“I don’t understand. You have visions?”

“ _Had_. They went away, mostly.” Sam eyed him suspiciously.

“What do you mean, ‘mostly’?”

“I mean I don’t really have active visions any more. The last one was six months ago.” That shut Sam up for a minute. He can do his math. “My visions and Dad’s… quest didn’t match. Dad didn’t follow up on the things I saw; he had other things in mind. It’s not like with you. We’ve used your visions to help people. Mine were just…”

“A nuisance.”

“Yeah. So I fought it, pushed it down, turned it off, whatever.”

“What about the TK?”

“That’s just fun.” Sam’s frown lifted, then he smiled, for what seemed like the first time in days. Dean relaxed. “Besides, I’m good at it. And it doesn’t make my head hurt.”


	2.   Coming of Age, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   Spoilers for “Nightmare”.  Beta by [](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/profile)[pheebs1](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/).  Thanks, pheebs!  Part 1 is posted in my journal, supernaturalfic, and fangirly_fic.  So’s this.

Title:Coming of Age, Part 2

Universe:Supernatural

Genre:gen

Rating:PG

Notes:Spoilers for “Nightmare”.Beta by [](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/profile)[**pheebs1**](http://pheebs1.livejournal.com/).Thanks, pheebs!Part 1 is posted in my journal, supernaturalfic, and fangirly_fic.So’s this.

Comments: welcome, encouraged, jonesed-after…

 

  


Dean hadn’t told Sam much about anything during the years they were apart.Sam wasn’t really surprised.After all, Dean wasn’t much of a conversationalist.And anything Sam needed to know about any of their jobs was always forthcoming.

 

Dean was twenty-two when Sam left; Sam was 22 now, and back.He tried not to think how their lives were lived in parallel.Dean’s life was thrown into upheaval when Sam left for college.Sam’s life was thrown into upheaval when Dean came to get him there.Mostly.

 

Sam was surely in denial about his nightmares about Jess before her death.They _fought_ the things in the darkness.Those things didn’t _happen_ to them.But then they did.Jess’ death tore Sam to shreds.He saw it coming and yet had done nothing to save her.How was he to know it was real?

 

Sam had been back with Dean for months.The nightmares were getting worse.And they were visions.He knew it.He had to do something about it.Because he could. _They_ could.Dean would understand.Dad?Not so much.But then, Dad wasn’t there, was he. Sam’s nightmares were real.And they could help.

 

Sam discovered that he was telekinetic during the Miller hunt.Dean could have _died_!That didn’t keep Sam from being completely freaked out.Stuff like that did not happen to normal people. But then it _did_.They _knew_ it did.Their jobs were living proof of that.Sam should have known by now that he and Dean were not exactly your average… anything.Not quite normal.Never had been, no matter how hard he tried.Denial was getting him nowhere.

 

Sam struggled with sharing the experience with his brother.It was scary.It wasn’t _normal_!Normal…And what if it was a fluke?A one-time thing that he couldn’t do again?Why mention it? It would just freak Dean out.It was freaking _him_ out!Dean could see that Sam was shaken.Sam could never keep something like this to himself.

 

“When Max trapped me in the closet…”Feel it out.What will Dean think of him?Would he look at Sam differently?

 

“So you’ve got more upper body strength than I gave you credit for.”Come on!Don’t play dumb!

 

“No, I moved it—like Max.”It’s out there.Sam was screaming in his head.What was Dean thinking?Did he think Sam was like Max?That he had gone over the edge?Was he afraid?Sam was afraid.Maybe he _was_ losing it…

 

“Bend this.”Sam was… astounded.He should have known.Dean wasn’t afraid of anything, let alone his little brother.

 

“I can’t, Dean…”Dean looked strangely resigned.Not exactly the reaction he expected.

 

Dean held the spoon out for a few seconds.Sam was pretty sure he couldn’t just turn on the TK like a switch.Apparently, however, Dean could.

 

Dean and Sam simply stared at each other.Sam couldn’t get his brain to work.Dean hadn’t—he didn’t just—it was too much.And Dean was so _calm_!How could this not be a big deal? _It was a big deal!_

 

“What was that?”Now that he had recovered his power of speech, Sam was incredulous.

 

“I should think it was obvious, College Boy.”Oh, don’t even go there.

 

“How long have you—why—why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Sam swayed on his feet.He had to sit down.This was too much.Things were happening too fast.And Dean was _talking_.Actually talking to him.Without his arm being twisted, or a knife to his throat, or anything.And he was talking about things that mattered, not about the car, or some girl, or his stupid music.Sam could hardly process it.His mind was whirling.

 

Sam was dumbfounded.There really was no other word for it.Dumbfounded.He couldn’t _believe_ that Dean had hidden something as important as having psychic powers.For _years_!From his own brother!Couldn’t he see that Sam could have benefited from the advice of someone who had gone through the same experience?He was so confused.

 

“So.You have telekinesis.And premonitions.Anything else I should know about?”Dean smirked at him.

 

“You mean like the firestarting and the teleporting?”Sam gaped.“You’re so gullible.”

 

“Bite me.You never know.”True.Sam had no idea that he would manifest psychic powers at twenty-two.He surely had no clue that Dean had.But then, they were brothers; they had to have some things in common.


End file.
